Recommend a video card?

[Pill]

For the 10580135th time: game doesn't work, doesn't meet the minimum requirements (i remember checking before purchase)

The blame probably goes to my video card. The same thing happened with a compatability test with another game: everything was fine except the video card.

I'm no computer expert, I can say I am totally ignorant to everything about computer hardware. I've read this thread:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=132142
... and it taught me nothing, after reading it a couple of times I have no clue what it was saying.

But I've managed to take a piece of advice from there and find what my video card is:
Intel(R) 82845G/GL chip
SIS AGP VGA card (if that is any use)
is it bad enough to scream at?

Can anyone recommend a decent (and cheap: around $50 US?) video card that will run this game fairly well?

The dxdiag also posted if it is any use. Thanks

 

[asmodai]

I have no idea about the prices in the USA, but I have been enjoying my NVIDIA 6800 (AOpen Aeolus) ever since I bought it. I owned ATI before that, but never again.

 

[kris55]

Hi,

Are you running civ 3 or 4?
Civ 3 isn't all that graphics hungy so the graphics you have should just about run it. However if its civ 4 then a more powerful card would be needed.

As in the last post the 6800 would be excellent but its about $200. For a good price upgrade an Nvidia FX5200 would be good to start with (less then $50)

Please check your manual on your PC for the type of slot it would fit in, PCI, AGP or PCI-E.
PCI = Older, and slower
AGP = Depending on speed its faster then PCI
PCI-E = 16 times faster then AGP; the best to have

Looking at your system information i would make a good guess that you would have a spare AGP slot. The graphics you are currenty using are built in graphics, which has no were near the power needed for most PC games to operate. Other then that your memory and processor are good.

Hope this helps

 

[dragokatzov]

i'd say its your video card, or lack there of, since you have onboard video. this is not going to cut it for civ 4, since it is kinda GPU intensive. Might I suggest the Geforce 6600GT, or a Geforce 6800GS. If you prefer ATI, consider the x700, x800, ot x850 series. I'd get one with 256 megs of ram, lots of room for the future. enjoy

 

[Pill]

Thanks for all the advice! I'll look at the recommendations. Searched around on the motherboard manufacturer's site, yep it says theres an AGP connector supporting 1x, 2x, 4x AGP cards. That would obviously mean I should stay away from the cards saying 8x? What is the product description saying when it is AGP "4x/8x"? Does it mean a board supporting 4x only and not 8x will be able to work?

 

[BretP]

I had similar problems and got a Nvidia 6200oc at Best Buy for a $100 with rebate and stuff, and it fixed all my problems along with the new patch.